The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday pledged dollars 15 million to help rebuild the Jenin refugee camp after Israel’s largest military operation in the occupied West Bank in nearly two decades.
This came during a call between the UAE Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, during which they discussed ways to support the agency at various levels.
The UAE foreign minister informed the commissioner that the UAE decided to open a joint account and contribute 15 million dollars to support UNRWA operations and services, and to provide urgent assistance to Palestinian families, especially the rehabilitation of losses in the city of Jenin and its camp.
Sheikh Abdullah affirmed the UAE’s commitment to supporting UNRWA to overcome the challenges it faces in performing operations entrusted to it by the United Nations and its mission to improve the conditions and lives of Palestinian refugees.
The promise of funding comes after a two-day attack that devastated the camp’s narrow alleyways.
The operation, aimed at cracking down on Palestinian activists after a series of recent attacks on Israelis, has led to thousands of people fleeing their homes. 12 Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed in the confrontations.
More than 140 Palestinians have been killed this year in the West Bank, and Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis have killed at least 25, including a shooting last month that killed four settlers.
Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East War.
